Charles e



(No Model.)

0. E. RAMUS.

LEATHER THONG CUTTER.

No. 432,641. Pdtented July 22,1890.

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' UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES E. RAMUS, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR OF ONE-HALF TO HENRY R.RIENHART AND MYNDERS C. RUSSELL, OF SAME PLACE.

LEATHER-THONG CUTTER.

SPECIFICATION formingpart of Letters Patent N 0. 432,641, dated July 22,1890.. Application filed December 21, 1889; Serial No. 334,515. (Nomodel.)

To aZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES E. RAMUS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the count y of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in String-Cutting Devices,of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to devices for cutting strings from fabric, and isparticularly adapted for cutting circular pieces of leather intocontinuous strings or thongs; and my invention consists in the devicesand combinations of devices substantially as described, but particularlypointed out in the claims.

In carrying out my invention I employ a suitable bed-plate or basehaving a way formed therein or thereon over which a slid- Zing barmoves, said bar having a centeringpin which holds the sheet or disk ofmaterial to be out with its center in line and its periphery in contactwith a fixed cutting-knife, the pull of the end of the thong operatingto draw the sliding bar toward the knife as the strip is out from theperiphery of the disk, an adjustable gage whereby the width of thestring or thong is determined, and a yielding prcsser-foot adapted tobear upon the top of the material being operated upon to hold it firmlyupon the bed-plate and against the knife.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective View of saidembodiment of my invention. Fig. 2 is a plan view thereof; Fig. 3, aside elevation of the sliding bar with its centering-pin, and Fig. 4 acircular piece of material. to be cut into a string or thong.

In the drawings, A represents the bed-plate, which has in its uppersurface a longitudinal slot a, which forms a way for a centering-pin b,projecting angularly from a sliding bar B, the latter being movablyconfined within ways formed by strips C C, arranged on the bed-plateparallel to the slot a, and a plate D, which is hinged at its rear endto the strips C C and is yieldingly confined on the top of said stripsby suitable springs, such as the spiral springs d. (Shown in dottedlines in Fig. 1 of the drawings.) Said plate D bears at its forward endan anti-friction roller c l,

.of the string or thong is determined.

which bears upon the sliding bar B and reduces the friction thereon.

E is a knife which is stationary while operating, and which mayberemovably secured to an edge of the base at the end of the slot a.

F is a gage which is secured to the edge of the base-plate in front ofthe knife, and which has its inner side above the base-plate cut away,as shown at f, and thereby the width This gage maybe secured by thescrews f, and by inserting a wedge between the inner face of thegage-plate and edge of the base the width of the string or thong may beincreased.

G is a presser-foot having a projecting finger g, which is adapted torest lightly upon the material at the severing-pointthat is, at thefront edge of the knife. This presser-foot, as shown, is pivot-allysupported upon a rod g, journaled in elongated slots h of brackets H H,and a spring I is arranged to bear yieldingly upon this pressenfoot. Thelatter, when supported as shown, may be lifted at its forward end whenit is desired to insert or remove the material.

The material is preferably first prepared by cutting it into circularformsuch as shown atJ in Fig. 4-and this circular sheet or disk willhave, by preference, a leader j out in its periphery, which willv begrasped in order to perform the cutting.

In operation the disk of material will be laid upon the bed-plate, andthe pin 6 of the sliding bar B will be inserted centrally of the disk,the lower end of the pin projecting into the slot at. The disk will thenbe moved up and the leader j drawn outside of the cuttingknife, as shownin Fig. 2, the presser-foot bearing upon the edge of the disk and thefinger of the presser-foot resting lightly upon the top of the leaderadjacent to the knife. The leader is grasped by the operator and theedge of the disk is drawn thereby against the knife and a string orthong of uniform width is cut, the disk of material rotating freelyabout the pin 1), and the bar B being drawn along until the entire disk,with the exception of a very small circular piece around the pin, isslitted into a string or thong. This operation is very rapidlyperformed, and it is evident that scraps of varying sizes may be thusreadily Worked upinto continuous strings or thongs.

I claim 1. In a string-cutting device, the combination, with a bed-platehaving a longitudinal slot therein, of a sliding bar having a pinprojecting from the under side of the bar and adapted to be passedthrough the material to be cut and into the slot, a way within which thesliding bar travels, said Way having a spring-confined upper Wall withan anti-friction roller adapted to bear on the bar, a stationary knife,a gage to determine the Width of the string, and a presser-foot adaptedto bear upon the material adjacent to the knife, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a string-cutting device, the combination, with a bed-plate havingaslot therein, of a sliding bar having a pin adapted to be passedthrough the material and into the slot, a stationary knife, and aspring-controlled presserfoot hinged at its rear end and its front endadapted to bear upon the material adjacent to the knife, substantiallyas described.

CHARLES E. RAMUS. Witnesses:

HENRY R. RINEHART, MYNDERS C. RUSSELL.

